Jordan Amaro might not be as famous in the world of gaming as some of Nintendo's other staffers, but he's had a hand in designing some of the most highly-rated games of recent memory, including Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Resident Evil 7 and - most recently of all - Splatoon 2.
Amaro has taken...

To kickstart its Gamescom 2017 coverage Nintendo has detailed some upcoming free content coming to Splatoon 2.
If you're a fan of Turf War and Ranked Battle then you'll be pleased to learn that Manta Maria joins the roster soon. That's not all, however; the Bubble Blower special weapon – available in...

Indie developer Cornfox & Bros recently ported its successful smartphone action adventure Oceanhorn to the Nintendo Switch, and while the game wasn't quite up to the standard of the title it seeks to emulate, it sure looks pretty in motion - which bodes well for future...

Splatoon 2 is a remarkable game, as many of you will no doubt be aware. However, it's significant for another reason, too - it's one of the first major internally-developed Nintendo titles on which a westerner is credited for game design.
Jordan Amaro might not be a household name right now, but you'll almost certainly have heard...

“One man's trash is another one's treasure” is how the saying goes. For Assembler Games forum user tdijital such was the case last year, when he stumbled upon an individual in possession of a substantial amount of diskettes and CD-ROM filled with video game source code and Sega development tools for Mega CD, 32X and...

Star Fox 2 developer and Q-Games studio head Dylan Cuthbert has announced that he and his team have a "great" idea for a Switch game, but they need a publisher to make it happen.
Cuthbert posted his tweet after it was revealed this week that the servers for Q-Games' ambitious PS4 title The Tomorrow Children...

Update: Lorne Lanning has taken to Twitter to apologise for his statement:
Original Story: We dread to think about how many man-hours have been invested in discussing third party support on Nintendo consoles. Back in the days of the NES, SNES and Game Boy, Nintendo enjoyed...

A Plague Tale: Innocence is shaping up to be quite an interesting piece of software, mixing historical elements, gore and lots and lots of rats.
Given that the Switch is becoming increasingly popular with small-scale indie developers it's fair to ask if the game is coming to Nintendo's console, but Asobo...

Mighty No. 9 studio Comcept has been acquired by Level-5 - custodians of the Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch franchises - to create a new company named Level-5 Comcept. This will be an entirely new studio built upon the foundations of Comcept’s existing staff, which currently consists of about 15...

The studio behind the PlayStation 4 exclusive The Order: 1886 is interested in working on the Nintendo Switch, according to its creative director.
Ready At Dawn's Ru Weerasuriya told GamesIndustry.biz:
Every time a platform comes out, we always feel like there's something really...

After adding early support for the Nintendo Switch to its Unreal Engine with February's 4.15 update, Epic has pushed out fully-featured native support for the console in version 4.16.
To work with Unreal Engine on the Switch, developers must first gain approval from Nintendo. Once this...

Console represents "a good opportunity to rethink the driving experience"

French studio Kylotonn is hard at work on its latest rally title WRC 7, which is due to arrive on PS4, Xbox One and PC later this year. However, it would seem that many within the company are fans of the Switch, and game director Alain Jarniou has stated that he and his...

Sega may be one of the gaming world's biggest third-party publishers but it was once a mover and shaker in the world of hardware and the first company to seriously challenge Nintendo for dominance of the living room.
During the '80s and '90s the company produced a string of hits, including Streets of Rage, Sega...

Unreal Engine is one of the most powerful development tools of the modern gaming age and after a period of playing catch-up, Nintendo is finally on a level playing field because Unreal Engine 4 supports the Switch, the company's latest console.
Last month Epic Games Japan held a lecture...

When we reported on Breath of the NES, Winter Drake's 8-bit take on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the indie developer made it clear that if Nintendo did decide to take legal action to prevent distribution of the game then production would co

Silicon Studio has revealed that its post processing effects middleware graphics package YEBIS now supports the Nintendo Switch. YEBIS - now up to version 3 - allows developers to add glare, depth of field, motion blur and anti-aliasing effects to their games, amongst other things...

After the rather dismal third party showing on the Wii U Nintendo knows that it has to work harder to entice the development community with the Switch, but if a survey taken just before this year's GDC is to be believed, the Japanese company has a long way to go yet.
4,500 developers...

Some reports are doing the rounds from Game Creators Conference 2017 out of Japan, which are interesting if not necessarily ironclad in detail. Twitter user @aizen76 attended a talk held by Masaru Mitsuyoshi from Nintendo and Capcom's Masaru Ijuin - and tweeted some remarks from the presentation...

There's been a running argument over the past decade that the Japanese development industry has fallen behind that of the west, with studios in the Far East struggling to make the best use of the latest game engines and software technology.
While it's true that the balance of power...

Warner Bros has announced that it has purchased Avalanche Software, the studio which was shuttered by parent company Disney Interactive last year following the underperformance of its Disney Infinity franchise, which Avalanche developed.
Warner Bros has succeeded in re-hiring many of the staffers which were let go last May, including...

This year's Game Developers Conference is due to take place between Monday 27th February and Friday 3rd March 2017 in San Francisco, and Nintendo has confirmed that it will be in attendance.
GDC is one of the industry's most effective means of bringing together platform holders with the wider dev community and...

Super Mario Run launches on iOS this week, an event which not so long ago would have been totally inconceivable to the average Nintendo fan. Nintendo's slow but steady embrace of mobile has certainly generated column inches in the gaming world, and to push the release the legendary Shigeru...

Capcom has stated during its financial year 2016 Q2 question and answer session that it is currently researching the viability of porting PS4 and Xbox One titles to the Nintendo Switch.
The veteran publisher - which has franchises such as Resident Evil, Street Fighter and Monster...

These days, Nintendo employees like Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka are well known with gamers, but back in the days before the internet came along and enriched/ruined everything, these individuals were largely mysterious to the average player.
That's what makes this 1990 visit to Nintendo's Kyoto HQ so...

Pokémon Uranium made quite a splash when it launched a while back, with 1.5 million downloads being racked up. Sadly download links for the fan-made game were removed following fears of legal action, but the developers insisted that the project was

Seta is a name that will be familiar to SNES owners thanks to the firm's well-recieved Exhaust Heat / F1 Race of Champions titles and the Castlevania-inspired Nosferatu. During the N64 era the firm pledged its support to Nintendo with a raft of titles including Wild Choppers (Chopper Attack in the west) and a...

3D visuals have largely become the industry standard these days, supported by a host of special tools and engines which aid their creation and streamline the design process.
However, back in the '80s the landscape was a lot different. 2D pixel artwork was the dominant style, but studios often had to create their...

While Nintendo as a company and platform holder naturally has its ups and downs, many agree that its core, big-name games deliver a distinct level of quality and refinement. From the precision platforming in Mario games to the structure and design of Zelda titles, to recent examples such as...

About a year ago we reported on Pawbyte's Game Pencil Engine, development software that also operates as a 2D editor, that was released for PC development. The key news was that it was also promising future support for the Wii U, adding to tools such as Construct and Impact, in particular, in helping developers...

Japanese studio Delta Arts has closed, it has been announced.
The company has been responsible for the major instalments in the Medabots series since 2010, and also created Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle on 3DS.
The last Medabots release it worked on was Medabots 9, which launched in Japan...

Veteran Japanese publisher Koei Tecmo has publicly confirmed that it has software in production for Nintendo's mysterious NX console.
The company - which worked with Nintendo recently on Hyrule Warriors - has clearly had some access to the NX previously. Last year, President and CEO Yoichi Erikawa was the first

Will "establish Los Angeles as the centralized hub for the global brand"

Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka has relocated to North America to create a new "development hub" for Sonic the Hedgehog games, it has been revealed.
Iizuka - who acted as producer on many recent Sonic titles before being sidelined by the externally-produced Sonic Boom series - has...

"I'm extremely excited about this very ambitious work they're undertaking"

Spanish developer MercurySteam - which created the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow sub-series and produced Mirror of Fate for the 3DS - has revealed that it has reunited with Dave Cox, the former Konami producer who worked with the studio on those titles.
Cox enjoyed 17 years...

Just recently the studio behind the charming Unravel spoke of an interest in working on the NX. The problem? They have no idea what it is. Though some secrets may or may not be leaking out of Nintendo and partners recently, the actual concept itself remains under wraps.
Picking up on Coldwood...

"It's kind of hard to pitch something when you don't even know what it is!"

Coldwood Interactive's Unravel has been getting some pretty favourable reviews recently, and the folks over at Gaming Bolt have popped the question that many Nintendo fans will want to know - could the title ever see the light of day on the NX?
Coldwood's Martin Sahlin...

Pokémon turns 20 this year, and to mark the occassion Game Freak's Junichi Masuda has posted a video online in which he shares some of his strongest memories regarding the creation of this iconic series.
Masuda - who served as a programmer on Pokémon Red and Green and created the music and...

The world is going Star Wars-mad at the moment, what with The Force Awakens hitting cinemas this week. To mark the event, Nintendo Life contributor Gonçalo Lopes has uploaded the behind-the-scenes documentaries which were included on Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike as...

Video games are often unfairly blamed for society's ills, with critics claiming they make players violent or antisocial. While some might assume such claims are a recent thing, a newly-translated interview with the team behind Super Mario World reveals that such unwarranted criticism has...

"I hit my head against the monitor hard enough to make the screen crack"

The term "labour of love" is often bandied around in media circles, usually relating to a personally important project by an artist writer, and while it's possibly overused in some cases, it most certainly applies to John Szczepaniak's quest to chart the hitherto unseen...

When you consider the sheer volume of games released every year, it should come as no massive shock to learn that a staggering number of projects get shelved or canned before making it to market, and each and every one of these games has a tale to tell.
The story behind an unnamed PlayStation RTS title from the...

The Konami drama continues. After rumours that the veteran publisher is leaving AAA development and the confusion surrounding the employment status of Hideo Kojima - its most famous staffer - Konami has recently confirmed that it is shuttering the LA-based studio responsible for Metal Gear Online,...

Just what is Retro Studios up to right now? That's the question that many a Nintendo fan has asked over the past year or so, and when E3 2015 came and went without any news from the Metroid Prime creator, brows became even more furrowed.
However, Nintendo Life contributor and Unseen64 archivist...

Not so long ago we covered the tortured production of the Wii title Project H.A.M.M.E.R., a waggle-heavy action title in development by Nintendo Software Technology, Nintendo's famed North American studio.
Revealed early in the life of the Wii, the game would never see the light of day and,...

1997's GoldenEye 007 was a massive commercial and critical success for Nintendo, selling 8 million copies worldwide and generating an enormous amount of revenue. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo wanted a sequel and even asked developer Rare to make one - but the UK company, which was at the time a second-party...

In your average James Bond flick the suave British secret agent dispatches countless goons and bad guys without batting an eyelid, but if Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto had had his way, the best Bond video game of all time wouldn't have contained a single death.
Speaking at the ongoing GameCity event...

In this generation Nintendo has been open-armed and welcoming to developers of all sizes, fostering the 'Nindie' age and opening the Wii U (and eventually the New Nintendo 3DS) up to development tools such as Unity. It seems to be stepping up those efforts, having launched a new Developer Portal with key information and an...

Fans of Kid Icarus had to endure a long and painful wait between the original NES and Game Boy titles and the eventual 3DS update, but had Star Wars: Rogue Squadron studio Factor 5 had its way, we would have been playing a sequel a little bit sooner.
Unseen 64 staffer and occasional Nintendo Life contributor...

With the incredible commercial and critical success of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain you'd think that publisher Konami would be feeling pretty pleased about its home console output, but it would appear that earlier reports regarding the company exiting the domestic arena are true...

Yoshiaki Koizumi is one of the key beneficiaries of the merger of EAD and SPD
While this week's big news is certainly the appointment of Tatsumi Kimishima as Nintendo's new president, it was the changes taking place behind the scenes which will have piqued the interest of seasoned...

Shinya Takahashi and Shigeru Miyamoto
As well as confirming yesterday that Tatsumi Kimishima is its new president, Nintendo also detailed some organisational changes which will impact the day-to-day running of some of its famous internal teams.
The big news is that EAD (Entertainment...

Update: Since we posted the original story, we have since come across this curious post from 4chan's /v/ board (click that link at your own risk) which appears to show a member of Spain's development community attempting to leak the existence of MercurySteam's Metroid.
The post...

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida has revealed to DualShockers that a port of the game could come to the Nintendo NX, but there are still some hurdles to overcome.
Square Enix has already caused considerable interest by announcing that Dragon Quest X and Drag

Rare co-founder Tim Stamper recently won the accolade of Development Legend at this year's Develop awards - along with his brother, Chris - and has now given his first interview since 2007.
Stamper - who has recently returned to the games industry with mobile studio FortuneFish - talks about the origins of Rare, its...

Nintendo has traditionally been very reluctant to allow its employees to speak to freely with the gaming press, but that stance has apparently been relaxed in recent years according to Treehouse staffer Chris Pranger - and as if to prove his point, he's taken part in a lively podcast where he covers a whole host of...

In recent years we've seen a number of young faces move to the forefront of Nintendo development, and we've also seen key women step up with increasing visibility in the company. One of the most recognisable is Aya Kyogoku for her leadership in the Animal Crossing franchise, and in a video from Nintendo...

This week sees the western launch of 3D Streets of Rage 2, the latest in Sega's line of 3DS-based 3D Classics. It's one of the most beloved games of the 16-bit era, and also one of the most technically impressive Genesis / Mega Drive titles seen so far. In fact, the game is such a potent showcase of...

Nintendo's been pro-active during this generation to support and promote game development from smaller studios around the world, helping the eShop to be a vibrant platform on both Wii U and 3DS. Another project is now set to get underway, and this time it'll be utilising development talent in Singapore to bring 3DS eShop games to...

Just recently we shared the most recent work of Unseen64, which produced a devastating expose of the doomed Project H.A.M.M.E.R., highlighting the problems between North American studio Nintendo Software Technology (NST) and Japanese management. It was an episode that, ultimately, didn't reflect...

Project H.A.M.M.E.R. was supposed to be a Wii title which catered for the needs of serious gamers, thanks to its gritty setting and focus on intense destructive action. Developed by Nintendo Software Technology - the North American studio responsible for titles like Wave Race: Blue Storm, Metroid Prime: Hunters and...

The Virtual Console promised so much when it launched alongside the original Wii all those years ago. Indeed, on that particular console it became something of a goldmine of amazing retro titles, and when Nintendo announced that the service would carry over to the Wii U, many...

David Wise is a living legend for many Nintendo fans, having contributed some amazing music to a dazzling array of classic Nintendo releases - the most famous of which is arguably the Donkey Kong Country franchise. Wise has since gone freelance but composed the fantastic soundtrack to...

Not so long ago we reported on a computer program which can "learn" how to play Game Boy games, but now someone has gone one better.
A team at the Georgia Institute of Technology is currently working on a program which can build its own Super Mario levels - without the use of Super Mario...

The talented development team at Monolith Soft is busy polishing off Xenoblade Chronicles X for its Western release on the Wii U in December, but that hasn't stopped them thinking of their next project. In a recent interview with Game Informer, Xenoblade director Tetsuya Takahashi and...

We recently broke the news that Nintendo asked UK studio Criterion to create an F-Zero title for the Wii U, but sadly the discussion came to nothing.
Criterion founder Alex Ward has responded to the story on Twitter, pointing out that F-Zero was simply one project amongst many pitched...

Next Level Games has a long and proud history with Nintendo, having worked on a wide range of titles including Super Mario Strikers, Punch Out!! and Luigi's Mansion 2. However, not all of the projects pitched by this developer have seen the light of day, and Unseen64 has posted an updated video explaining what...

Those chaps at Unseen64 have done it again and unearthed another cancelled and forgotten game from the annals of history. This time it's Wii adventure Zblu Cops, which was based on a French comic book all but unknown in the west. The work of entertainment group Biodroid, this promising title used a cel-shaded...

During this year's E3, a whole bunch of industry veterans met at the Lunch with Luminaries event. In this yearly talk Gaikai and Shiny founder Dave Perry invites big names for a in-depth discussion about the games industry, and this time around we had Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford, Boss Key...

"Development Hell" is a well-known term for the painful gestation of a Hollywood movie. Whether modern AAA games suffer the same problems from concept to release, I don't know personally but I am certain that they do. I am currently reading Tales From Development Hell, and whilst the movie...

Slightly Mad Studios recently launched Project CARS on next-gen consoles and PC to positive reviews and encouraging sales. A truly unique racing title, it was crowdfunded by the community in a process which pre-dated the now-popular Kickstarter approach.
The route to market has been a...

We recently ran a feature on Star Fox 2, one of Nintendo's most famous cancelled projects. This SNES-based sequel had all the ingredients to be a sure-fire classic, but never made it to market. However, there's another game in the company's past which had the potential to be even more...

Sonic Boom didn't do well on any metric; its sales failed to match those of fellow Nintendo exclusive Sonic Lost World, and it was panned by many critics and Sonic fans alike. Like any project it has its defenders, but many are agreed that it was a major disappointment, with Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric on Wii U being the biggest culprit.
It...

Whether by design or simply coincidence, Nintendo managed to bury its financial results behind a Splatoon Direct, though for the first time in a few years the reports were actually positive. Nintendo made a larger than expected profit despite missing some sales targets, and expects improved...

In March Nintendo announced its partnership with DeNA to bring its IP to smart devices in apps and games. It was a fairly drastic shift in direction, with the talk turning from apps that would have the sole aim of directing consumers to Nintendo hardware, to directly acknowledging the need for big-hitting franchises to have games on...

Legendary game design Sid Meier is responsible for some of the most iconic titles in the history of the interactive entertainment industry. He helped found Microprose in the 1980s and has since produced the likes of Civilization, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Silent Service and F-15 Strike Eagle. It's now...

They say that the apple never falls far from the tree, and that's certainly true of UK startup Playtonic Games. Based on an industrial estate in the middle of the rolling English countryside, this team of former Rare developers is but a stone's throw away from the historic town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where...

The cat - or should that be chameleon - is out of the bag. Fledgling UK studio Playtonic Games has lifted the lid on the stars of its début title - Yooka and Laylee - and has sent Rare-loving Nintendo fans into a frenzy of anticipation by confirming that the game will be coming to the Wii U eShop...

Just in case the news relating to Playtonic's début didn't get the Rare fans among you excited enough, we've got a little update on what another group of famous ex-Rare developers have been up to since leaving the legendary UK studio - and it's probably not what you were expecting...

Since Nintendo introduced the Nintendo Web Framework on the Wii U, there's been a substantial expansion of HTML5-based projects on the system's eShop. Easier to learn and implement than alternatives, multiple software suites are available to help developers program and port their games to Nintendo's home...

Activision is relaunching its famous Guitar Hero brand as Guitar Hero Live, a game which not only offers a new-look controller but also focuses on using live-action footage to deliver a more immersive experience. It's coming to the Wii U - as well as other formats - this year.
FreeStyleGames is the studio in charge,...

Remember Midora? It's a Zelda-inspired action-adventure which was successfully funded via Kickstarter to the tune of $73,470, and while it didn't meet its Wii U and 3DS stretch goals, developer Epic Minds insisted that it would still come to those machines - it would just take a little longer.
However, there are doubts the

Say hello to "tens of thousands of studios and over 4 million developers"

It has been announced during the Unite 2015 Tokyo event that Unity support is being rolled out to the New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL.
For those who don't know, Unity is a powerful development platform which is used by many studios and allows devs to create...

Earlier this year RCMADIAX, who published the Wii U eShop's first Nintendo Web Framework game, announced that he was planning to step away from the Wii U. The developer has now taken to Twitter to provide a series of updates that indicate a quicker than expected move away from Nintendo's...

Remember when Nintendo revealed the Wii U Zelda title at last year's E3, and many people jumped to the conclusion that Link was - y'know - a chick? Despite Nintendo's denials that Hyrule's famous warrior was switching genders for the next big adventure, many fans rightly asked why Link shouldn't be female for at...

While industry analysts might be conflicted about Nintendo's partnership with Japanese mobile firm DeNA - a deal which will see Nintendo's IP finally arrive on smartphones and tablets - the mobile development community has reacted in an extremely positive fashion, seeing the Japanese...

Every Nintendo fan knows about Shigeru Miyamoto and his vital role for the company. The gaming legend is or has been responsible for timeless franchises such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong. He has been at the forefront of Nintendo's creative endeavours for years, and a recent interview with TIME shed some...

Following this week's dramatic announcement of Nintendo's partnership with DeNA to greatly expand its move into smart device gaming and services, utilising core IP in the process, there have been plenty of questions around how the partnership will work and how, in practical terms, it'll affect...

Last month we reported on the news that a group of former Rare developers had formed their own company - Playtonic - and were looking to create a "spiritual successor" to the Banjo-Kazooie series.
During this week's EGX Rezzed, Playtonic showed off the first screens from the new game -...

Toki Tori 2 was one of the Wii U eShop's first big exclusives, a puzzle platformer which built on the previous two games - one on Game Boy Color and the other on WiiWare - to offer one of the console's first big download releases.
However, Two Tribes Collin van Ginkel has revealed that sales have been...

"I want my future titles to be on everything, and that includes Wii U"

Jonathan "Bidds" Biddle is leaving Curve Digital to head up his own indie studio, called onebitbeyond. Biddle was employed as Curve's Design Director and is the brains behind series such as Fluidity (also known as Hydroventure) And Stealth Inc.
This isn't the end of Biddle's...

Back in the 32-bit era, the world's biggest handheld was unquestionably the Game Boy, and its updated variant, the Game Boy Color. Any title which was big on domestic systems invariably received a scaled-down port on Nintendo's all-conquering mobile console, with varying degrees of success.
Capcom was no stranger to this...

It's no secret that Next Level Games, though it's an independent company, is currently committed exclusively to Nintendo projects - that was stated in early 2014, and nothing since has suggested any change. We'd like to think it's an ambitious project, too, as little has been heard from the company since Luigi's...

Unseen64's Liam Robertson - an expert at digging up cancelled gaming projects - has uncovered another interesting piece of into regarding an open-world adventure title that was in development for the Wii U.
Chris Stockman - who served as Design Director on the original Saints Row - was...

The NES is one of the most iconic gaming systems of all time, but it hasn't been on Nintendo's radar - at least from a hardware perspective - for quite some time. That hasn't stopped homebrew developers from continuing to support the vintage console, and as a result 2015 will see the release of The Mad Wizard: A Candelabra...

A group of former Rare employees has banded together to establish a new studio which is now working on a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series.
Speaking to EDGE magazine, the core members of Playtonic - Gavin Price, Chris Sutherland and Steve Mayles - have explained how they recently...

It's been a while since we reported on The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup, a new title for the Wii U and 3DS eShops from former Rare staffers Chris Seavor and Shawn Pile. Since bringing you the exclusive news that the title was headed to Nintendo formats, things have been a little on the quiet side...

The Harry Potter book and film series may have reached its conclusion a few years back, but the franchise continues to be a massive money-spinner - not only for creator J.K. Rowling but also for the many licensed partners involved with merchandising and related products.
Video games are naturally...

Just recently Nintendo delayed its financial results presentation and investor's Q & A until 17th February, an uncommon move for the company. Its latest financial results had brought a mixed outcome, with smart business streamlining and a weak yen increasing net profit...

Team Ninja's Dead or Alive series has been running since the days of the Saturn and PlayStation, and has built up a large following thanks to its excellent gameplay and depth. However, it's perhaps just as famous for its female characters, who boast somewhat exaggerated vital...

This week is currently set to see the launch of Ninja Pig Studios' next Wii U eShop title, Jumpy Cat - but the developer behind the infamous Meme Run is already in hot water thanks to accusations that it has used stolen pixel art in its new game.
Jumpy Cat is slated for release on January 22nd in North America, but...

Indie developer TreeFall Studios -- creator of the infamous Wii U eShop title The Letter -- has just released its first ever Developers Conference on YouTube showing off the company's forthcoming projects.
Several brand new titles were showcased, as well as announcements relating to fresh content related to Maze, which recently...